Why would tribes, individual tribal members (or eligible to become members), and legal heirs to the original allottee purchase land they still own? Today's misguided focus of the #landback is to purchase when it isn't necessary. The theft of Indian land is essential because land ownership is at the heart of intergenerational wealth-building. This is precisely why the theft occurred - to obtain what wasn't theirs and to deprive the actual recipient of his/her wealth. The extent of illegal conversion of NDN land, therefore, defies the basic tenets of capitalism - and the basis of what the "new" planted government through the colonists claim they brought and vested when they first arrived on the shores of North America. It's too bad people didn't read the Bible, which talks about the Golden Rule ("to do unto others as you would have done to you").
Since land ownership is vital to intergenerational wealth, it is a primary determinant of whether a whole lineage has wealth. Have you heard that it takes money to make money? An unjust benefit from the wealth that belonged to someone else means a debt occurs. Capitalistic modeling means there is no free lunch, and you can't blame whole people for having less when the primary mechanism of their poverty was the fraudulent land transfers and a mechanism implemented outside of their control.
I ask, why are there homeless NDNs? Where were the tribal governments when the allottees' lands were illegally converted (when the right to escheat back to the tribe was codified)? Where is the tribal government's support now for the heirs in regaining land or value to improve lives? After looking at this issue, I believe that many tribal governments/ or specific agents knew and looked the other way. There is GOOD NEWS! Legal and beneficial titles in NDN land can only be conveyed or transferred when one or both federal and common contract/probate laws at the various state levels are violated.
As has been argued, it is false that federal and state laws are in tension about NDN land theft. One was designed to prevent theft, and the other was a vehicle. This is the "good cop, bad cop" argument and is a manipulation. The truth is, neither jurisdiction can support this illegal conduct—then or now—without turning on the legal system they designed and forcing it inside out. The law and each jurisdiction can be independently or together used for remediation. In most cases, as I have since learned through years of research, NDN land remains in possession of the legal NDN estates until these HISTORICAL WRONGS are corrected.
I have researched and studied federal and state laws relevant to the issue of NDN land theft for years. It is a personal endeavor, or how it started because I still have fully vested legal interests in my Chickasaw Grandmother's restricted 40-acre homestead, which was in her possession at the time of her death in 1927. In the process, I have witnessed incomprehensible misconduct by both agencies and court systems (federal/ Oklahoma) to hide and attempt to erase the blatant theft of NDN lands. The problem is the legal strategy I created prevents just that. It places the land conversion back to where it belongs by updating the title and reliance on tenets of probate law.
To conclude, it is time for a private Commission, much like the one done in Colorado, to address the theft of NDN land. Because the land was stolen by misuse of the law, the solution is vested in that same law, or there can be no peace and cooperation. With the higher stakes due to the climate crisis, which will impact people living uptown or downtown, a focus on collaboration and conciliation is the only option. Feel free to contact (PM) through the "Contact" form page of my website. Consultation services are available. https://www.tribal-consultants.info/contact
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